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BVSD students win first, second place in competition launching payloads from sport rocket

By Amy Bounds

Staff Writer

Posted:
07/16/2018 07:46:47 PM MDT

Updated:
07/16/2018 10:41:33 PM MDT

Carter Mak (left) and Nate Kuczun, who both graduated from Boulder High School in May, won first place last weekend for the plane they designed to launch from United Launch Alliance s Future Heavy s intern rocket. The rocket was launched Saturday near Lake Meredith. (Courtesy photo)

Teams from Boulder and Monarch high schools took first and second place, respectively, for the projects they designed to launch from United Launch Alliance's Future Heavy's intern rocket.

The launch took place Saturday at Lake Meredith in southeastern Colorado.

"It was all about the experience," Monarch High incoming senior Reed Henderson said. "To see the drone we built go up was amazing."

In June 2017, Boulder High student Carter Mak tosses a fixed wing prototype aircraft as Nate Kuczun holds a drone controller to practice for United Launch Alliance's Future Heavy intern rocket launch. The two built on their design from last year and won first place at this summer's launch at Colorado's Lake Meredith. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

This summer, for its 10th anniversary, the program added a competitive element to the launch. The goal was to get the payload the closest to a target on the side of the lake after it was ejected from the rocket.

But technical issues with the rocket meant the payloads ejected too late and none made it to the target. Instead, teams were judged on the projects themselves. Judges considered factors including creativity and demonstrated knowledge.

Along with the two winning teams, local students competing included a second team from Boulder High and teams from Louisville's Monarch High School and Lafayette's Peak to Peak Charter School.

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Altogether, student teams from Colorado, California and New Mexico brought 36 payloads to go up on the rocket, with 15 of the payloads competing for prizes.

Carter Mak and Nate Kuczun, who graduated from Boulder High in May, took first place with a folding wing remote-controlled plane. Their win comes with $5,000 for Boulder High.

They worked with Boulder High teacher Mark Castleman on the project, and both are headed to the University of Colorado in the fall to study aerospace engineering.

The pair returned to the competition after also participating last summer. They built their winning plane using last year's design as starting point, and added a camera on the plane to allow them to fly it from the ground.

"It's a great learning experience, particularly because it's not the sort of opportunity that high schoolers usually have access to," Mak said. "All of the people we've worked with through the program have been wonderful, and it's frankly just fun."

The Monarch students — Henderson, incoming junior Sean Crawford and incoming sophomores Annalie Haralson and Ethan Frank — took second place, winning $3,000 for their school.

Frank, a veteran of the rocket challenge, participated for a third year and recruited his three classmates. They went with a drone because Crawford had built racing drones for the past three years.

To build it, they secured a $1,500 grant from Ball and used resources at Monarch High's shop, including a 3D printer, with help from teacher Shane Stalter.

They designed a frame and first tried printing it in plastic, but that material was too weak. So they sent the design to a Canadian company to print in carbon fiber. Then they installed the motors, built a release mechanism and started testing.

"We flew it over and over again," Crawford said.

The drone itself ended up at the bottom of the lake, but they did recover the release mechanism, which included a piece of pool noodle to keep it afloat. And before the drone plummeted into the water, everything worked, including the video and radio controls, they said.

"It was a really good growing experience for all of us," Haralson said.

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